Officials: Al-Qaida Bomber Was Actually CIA Informant

BERLIN, GERMANY - MAY 04: A Condor airplane from nearby Schoenefeld Airport flies past the control tower at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (IATA code BER) on May 4, 2012 in Schoenefeld, near Berlin, Germany. The new airport, located south of Berlin, is scheduled to open on June 3 and will replace three airports: Tempelhof Airport expanded by the Nazis which closed in 2008, Tegel Airport, scheduled to close later this year, and Schoenefeld Airport, which currently exists at the site of the new facility and was opened in 1934 to host an aircraft plant. The new airport, designed for a capacity of 27 million passengers a year, has cost nearly three billion euros to construct, controversial in a city that has one of the highest levels of unemployment in the country, at twice the German national average. Proponents of the new airport contend that the building may salvage the capital city which has struggled economically in recent years. (Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images)credit: Adam Berry/Getty Images

WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — U.S. and Yemeni officials say the supposed would-be bomber at the heart of an al-Qaida airliner plot was actually an informant working for the CIA.

The revelation, first reported by The Los Angeles Times, shows how the CIA was able to get its hands on a sophisticated underwear bomb well before an attack was set in motion.

Officials say the informant was working for the CIA and Saudi Arabian intelligence when he was given the bomb. He then turned the device over to authorities and was able to safely exit Yemen according to officials.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence matter.

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